Latest news with #SenateHealthandHumanServicesCommittee
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Oklahoma governor apologizes for disparaging remarks, celebrates session victories
Gov. Kevin Stitt speaks at a media briefing March 5 at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Kevin Stitt said Wednesday he had apologized to a state senator after making disparaging remarks about him and his wife last week. Stitt also defended his choice for interim commissioner of the state mental health department, despite his lack of experience in mental health. Stitt drew the ire of lawmakers Thursday as they worked late into the night and into the early hours of Friday morning to overturn over 40 of his vetoes. He posted a video Thursday afternoon calling on voters to closely watch how lawmakers vote on veto overrides and said the bills he had vetoed were bad for Oklahoma. Later in the evening as lawmakers prepared a measure to fire mental health Commissioner Allie Friesen, the governor, who had appointed and ardently supported Friesen throughout the agency's financial disarray, put out a statement that drew a senator's wife into the mix. Sen. Paul Rosino, R-Oklahoma City, and Rep. Josh West, R-Grove, were the authors of the measure to fire Friesen. It said the Legislature had 'lost confidence' in her ability to lead the state agency. Stitt called Friesen's firing a 'politically motivated witch hunt' and questioned if Rosino and West had something to gain by firing her. 'Josh West and Paul Rosino need to first answer what they stand to gain from Allie Friesen being removed,' he said in his Thursday statement. 'What are they trying to keep covered up? What conflicts of interest are they trying to hide? Is Senator Rosino trying to help his wife avoid responsibility for her role in the finance department there? Oklahomans deserve answers.' Rosino, who chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and co-chairs a select committee investigating the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services' finances, said Thursday his wife works as a 'low level, part-time' employee at the agency. Stitt's statement, compounded with his video calling on Oklahomans to vote out lawmakers who voted to overturn his vetoes, led to dozens of lawmakers publicly calling Stitt out Thursday night. House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said Friday morning the video Stitt had posted frustrated lawmakers and disrupted 'good faith' negotiations between the Legislature and the Governor's Office. He also said it was 'beneath the dignity of his office' to attack a senator's wife. Senate President Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, said Friday he was disappointed by the governor's comments. 'You know, we all say things sometimes that we wish we could take back. But this wasn't something that was said out of context,' Paxton said Friday. 'It was something written down and approved that was put out. And in my nine years here, I've seen lots of things where there's lots of criticism of members. I've never seen something like that on a member's spouse.' When discussing the measure to fire Friesen in the Senate, senators were unified in speaking against Stitt's comments – all but one of the senators who rose to debate the measure spoke against the statement. The Senate voted 43-1 to fire Friesen and the House voted 81-5. But Wednesday afternoon, Stitt apologized and said 'it was my fault' for letting emotions run high. 'I do regret that. I called and apologized to him and his wife,' Stitt said. 'I let the emotions get the better of me and I should not have done that. … I'm just trying to point out any kind of conflict. We have to make sure that, you know, if you're in the pharmaceutical business, you shouldn't be running pharmaceutical bills. If you're in this industry, you shouldn't be running this bill.' Rosino could not be reached for comment, but a Senate spokesperson confirmed he and his wife had accepted Stitt's apology. The Republican governor also defended Rear Admiral Gregory Slavonic as his choice to temporarily fill Friesen's position as head of the mental health department. Slavonic has a long history working in government and previously ran the Oklahoma Department of Veteran Affairs, but has no experience in mental health. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'He's not a mental health expert, he's more of a business person,' Stitt said Wednesday. 'He's somebody that I think can do the job.' The agency needed supplemental funding from the Legislature for this budget year and has been embroiled in investigations and audits following reports of financial disarray, including being unable to make payroll. Stitt took a victory lap as he celebrated successes from the legislative session. He said Oklahoma is now on the path to eliminating the income tax after the Legislature passed a .25% income tax cut, with further cuts when revenue reaches specified levels. Stitt also applauded legislation he said eliminated various fines, fees and court costs for people recently released from incarceration, a priority he mentioned during his State of the State address at the beginning of session. Expanding apprenticeship and internship programs in Oklahoma was another victory Stitt brought up Wednesday. 'This was an amazing session,' he said. 'I thought it was one of my best sessions we've ever had in seven years.' Reporter Ylleana Berryhill contributed to this report. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Bill to study Texas psychiatric bed capacity falls short
AUSTIN (KXAN) – Legislation that would have prompted a widespread study of Texas' current and future psychiatric facility capacity fell short of passage this year. State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, filed the bill for the second time. The state needs to invest in the study to give decision-makers 'the ability to look at all of our options out into the future for meeting this demand,' she told the Senate Health and Human Services Committee in early April. In a social media post Tuesday, Eckhardt described the push for the psychiatric bed study as 'progress won' and the session's end as a time to 'reflect on what we weren't able to accomplish and the work that remains to be done.' KXAN has reported for years on backlogs at state mental hospitals — an issue that has caused extended wait times for people charged with crimes and found incompetent to stand trial. Those individuals are often stuck in jail, with their cases paused for months or longer until they can be moved to a state hospital for treatment. Eckhardt's study would have examined the capacity of acute inpatient psychiatric treatment, including beds for adolescents, voluntarily committed patients, maximum-security units and people in the criminal justice system — who use the largest share — according to a bill analysis. Explore: KXAN's Catalyst project – Locked in Limbo A fiscal note attached to the bill estimated the study would have cost $1.5 million. No one at an April 8 Senate committee hearing on the bill registered against it, but Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, voiced his concern. The state should wait and watch for state hospital improvements that are yet to come, Perry said, from investments that were approved last in 2023. At least 54 died since 2018 waiting for state hospital opening, senator calls for more tracking 'What we did last session was predicated on a lot of study, so we're a little early to be here talking about all these crisis points and what we haven't got,' Perry said. 'We got it in the pipeline.' Eckhardt's bill analysis notes the average number of patients using Texas inpatient beds at mental health facilities increased 12% between 2023 and 2024. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Panel advances bill banning delivery of abortion-inducing drugs in Oklahoma
Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, sits at his desk on the Senate floor during the chamber's organizational day on Jan. 7, 2025. (Photo by Emma Murphy/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY – A Senate panel on Monday advanced a measure to prevent the use of popular abortion-inducing drugs, including mifepristone. House Bill 1168 makes it a felony to intentionally deliver abortion-inducing drugs in the state. 'We are stopping the pill from the abortion side of this just because of the damage it does to an unborn person, primarily, but also because of the damage it does to women and mothers,' said Sen. David Bullard, R-Durant, the Senate author of the measure. Abortion in Oklahoma is already illegal, except to save the life of the mother. Abortion-inducing drugs, like RU486, better known as mifepristone, are not the same as the morning after pill. Abortion-inducing drugs end a pregnancy while the morning-after pill prevents pregnancy. 'RU486 has one intent and that intent is to murder an unborn child,' Bullard said. Bullard said the measure would also prevent it from being shipped into Oklahoma through major carriers. The measure would make it a felony with a fine not to exceed $100,000 or up to 10 years in prison or both. 'I simply cannot believe that we are continuing to try and create new felonies for substances that are legal, that do provide valid medical relief to individuals here in our state,' said Sen. Carri Hicks, D-Oklahoma City. Hicks said she was appalled that the state continues to push the envelope when mothers are going into sepsis and experiencing fatal conditions before they can get medical intervention. 'This is the only medical procedure in the world that the success of the procedure depends on the death of the patient,' Bullard said. The measure passed the Senate Health and Human Services Committee by a vote of 7-3. It is available for consideration in the Senate. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Horrified Texas lawmakers demand crackdown on body broker industry
This article is part of 'Dealing the Dead,' a series investigating the use of unclaimed bodies for medical research. Appalled Texas lawmakers called for a crackdown on the corpse trade Wednesday after they heard stories of unclaimed bodies' being cut up and used for profit by medical schools, private brokers and health care companies. The angry demands came during a state Senate Health and Human Services Committee hearing in response to an NBC News investigation that exposed how a Texas university took unclaimed bodies from local morgues and leased them to training facilities and medical device companies — without telling the dead people's families. Sen. Tan Parker, a Republican, presented a pair of bills that would prohibit the activity and impose wider industry regulations, with jail terms for serious violations. He described the legislation as an attempt to heal wounds suffered by Texas families. 'You placed your trust in a system that should have treated your loved ones with care and respect, and that trust was broken badly,' Parker said. 'This bill is more than policy. It is a promise, a promise that Texas will do better.' Using unclaimed bodies for research is legal in Texas, as it is in most of the country. But many body donation programs have stopped the practice to reflect advances in medical ethics that call for anatomists to treat human remains with the same dignity shown to living patients. Parker's bills would make Texas one of a handful of states, including Hawaii, Minnesota and Vermont, that prohibit research or training on unclaimed bodies without consent. That restriction did not draw opposition at the hearing, but some body brokers raised concerns that Parker's other proposed regulations could stifle crucial training for doctors and potentially lifesaving medical research. The committee heard from two people featured in the NBC News investigation: Kimberly Patman, whose ex-husband, Victor Honey, a homeless Army veteran, was cut up and leased out to medical companies and the Army; and Tim Leggett, whose older brother, Dale's, body was shipped to Kentucky to train anesthesiologists. Both learned from reporters what had happened to their loved ones. 'Victor deserved better. His children deserved better. His country owed him better,' Patman said. 'We're asking for accountability and, more importantly, change, so that no other family has to experience this kind of violation and grief.' Leggett, who learned of his brother's death through a list of names of unclaimed bodies NBC News published, said he thought every day about how Dale's body was treated. 'When does a human being stop being a human deserving of simple kindness and respect?' he said. The committee's chairperson, Lois Kolkhorst, a Republican, appeared aghast. 'These are horrifying stories, and I don't know where we get to this point in society,' said Kolkhorst, who is a co-author of one of the bills. 'It is a darkness here. Your descriptions. Unthinkable.' Parker added: 'It is a darkness, and it's absolutely horrific. It's like a horror film.' The NBC News investigation, published last year, detailed how the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth obtained unclaimed bodies from Dallas and Tarrant counties, then dissected and leased them out. The bodies included those of military veterans, the homeless, people with mental illness and a murder victim. Reporters identified at least 26 people whose bodies were sent to the Health Science Center without their relatives' knowledge. Twelve of those people's families learned details of what happened to their loved ones from NBC News, including from a list of names it published. The investigation prompted the Health Science Center to suspend its body donation program, fire the officials who led it and stop taking unclaimed bodies. Medical technology companies that had received unclaimed bodies from the center said they would change their policies or reconsider their work with the center. Local, state and federal officials expressed alarm and vowed to push for policy changes. The Texas Funeral Service Commission, which regulates body donation, launched an investigation. Parker responded with two bills: One would ban using unclaimed bodies without proper consent, and another would set up a more stringent set of regulations for the body broker industry, including licensing requirements, inspections, body tracking and criminal penalties for violators. Wednesday's hearing was the bills' first appearance before a legislative committee. The hearing quickly rolled beyond the scope of the bills and explored other abuses in the body trade. Officials from the Texas Funeral Service Commission provided examples: a Las Vegas company that left a body sitting in cardboard on a Texas loading dock, another company that admitted violating a moratorium on out-of-state body shipments, a hotel housekeeper who found frozen heads thawing in a bathtub, complaints of body parts discarded in bushes or a pond. That prompted some committee members to say it was not enough to tighten regulations. Instead, they said, body brokers — also known as nontransplant anatomical donation organizations — should not be allowed to operate in Texas. 'The only thing we can do is put an end to it,' said Sen. Bob Hall, a Republican. A Parker aide said after the hearing that he would consider adding such a ban to the proposal before it returns to the committee for a vote next week. The hearing also included testimony from body broker companies who said they did not work with unclaimed bodies. They asked the state to enforce existing regulations — including making sure that all body brokers are registered with the funeral commission — before it added more. Some warned that new regulations could lead to a drop in body donations, which are crucial for teaching the next generation of doctors and helping current physicians maintain their skills. Stephen Bathje, vice president of tissue management at Science Care, a body donation program, urged lawmakers to address those concerns, which he said would allow essential training for doctors to continue while also ensuring "that donors are treated with dignity and respect." This article was originally published on
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
City, state officials discuss expanding Medicaid to cover medical respite for unhoused
The Recuperative Care Center offers unhoused individuals a place to stay after being discharged from the hospital. (Photo: Michael Lyle/Nevada Current) As potential federal cuts to Medicaid loom, City of Las Vegas officials are asking state lawmakers to expand Medicaid to pay for medical respite care for unhoused people. Senate Bill 54, heard Tuesday by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, would require the state's Department of Health and Human Services to apply for a federal waiver and amend the state Medicaid plan to cover medical respite care for people experiencing homelessness. The bill would also require DHHS to adopt guidelines for respite care for unhoused populations. Though Democratic legislators have been publicly fretting that congressional Republicans will drastically cut Medicaid spending to help pay for tax cuts requested by President Donald Trump, state lawmakers on the panel Tuesday didn't directly discuss the prospect, though there were oblique references noting the Senate Finance Committee will be tasked with approving state Medicaid spending details. When unhoused people are injured or dealing with an illness not deemed serious enough for a hospital stay, they are forced to heal while unsheltered. Sabra Newby, the deputy city manager for the City of Las Vegas, said authorizing federal reimbursements for services would 'improve health outcomes, reduce unnecessary hospital stays and readmissions, and strengthen Nevada's continuum of care for its most vulnerable residents.' 'Medical respite care offers short term, residential community-based support specifically for homeless individuals who need a safe and sanitary place to heal,' Newby said. The Recuperative Care Center in the Corridor of Hope, the area in downtown Las Vegas that offers homeless services, opened in 2020 during the Covid pandemic to offer some medical respite care. The city used funding provided by the American Rescue Plan Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021, to expand and maintain the 40-bed facility. It also relies on general fund dollars to operate the facility. The city contracts with the federally qualified Hope Christian Health Center to operate the facility within the homeless services corridor. City officials told state lawmakers the facility has served 1,115 patients, with the majority referred by hospitals. More than half of those transition into 'some sort of permanent functional housing at their discharge,' said Lindy Cooksey, a neighborhood outreach specialist with the city. The city plans to temporarily reduce capacity starting this summer as the center goes through construction to double capacity, which is expected to be complete by 2027. Once the expansion is complete, the estimated annual operating budget is expected to be $7 million. 'Covering the cost for the entirety of this program would place a significant burden on the city's general funds,' said Arcelia Barajas, the director of Neighborhood Services with the City of Las Vegas. 'Although respite care for homeless individuals is fairly new to Nevada, it is a best practice nationally and funded through various avenues with the most common being Medicaid.' The bill, if passed, would not cover the entire budget of the center but 'reduce the strain' of the city's budget, Barajas said. Democratic state Sen. Fabian Doñate of Las Vegas, the committee's chair, noted other states have obtained federal waivers for homeless respite housing, and those models hopefully would serve as a template for expediting federal approval. Republican state Sen. Robin Titus, whose district includes all or parts of six rural counties, asked whether the bill would only apply to services offered at the Las Vegas-based center or would apply to communities throughout the state. Newby said theoretically it could apply throughout the state but she was 'unaware of any other place that provides these services. Local governments and health providers alike supported the legislation. Joanna Jacob, a lobbyist with Clark County who testified in support of the bill, said the county used covid relief dollars to convert motels into noncongregate shelter space. Two of the motels offer respite care, she said. 'There is enough need in our community that we need to build additional resources,' Jacob said. Cadence Matijevich, a lobbyist with Washoe County, said while the county doesn't have a stand alone respite center, it does provide similar services to what Las Vegas offers. She said the county would also benefit if Medicaid covered costs to cover respite services. The committee took no action on the bill.
